Wells Lyons, Progressive Entrepreneur, Launches Campaign for Portland City Council

Community Author:

Post Date: July 9, 2012 3:23 pm

Contributed

Contributed

Wells Lyons at the Entreverge Awards Dinner, where he accepted an award on behalf of Rogue Wallet Company. Lyons announced his candidacy for Portland City Council on Monday. Photo by Richard Sandifer, used with permission.

Contributed

Contributed

A campaign sign for Wells Lyons.

PORTLAND, ME – Wellington “Wells” Lyons, a young attorney, entrepreneur and community activist has announced his candidacy for an At Large seat on Portland’s City Council. Lyons is a fifth generation Mainer, and his announcement makes him the first candidate to enter the race for the November 6th election. Asked why he was running, Lyons said, “It’s simple – I want to serve the community I love. We should strive to make Portland an even better place to work and live, and we can accomplish that. We just need the ideas and hard work to get us there.”

Lyons’ campaign is focused on creating jobs at the local level, upgrading the city’s public transportation system and developing public-private partnerships to increase Internet access for city residents. “We need to examine why Portland isn’t reaching its full economic potential,” says Lyons. “We have a great quality of life here, but we need to do a better job at recruiting young entrepreneurs. And that means finding ways to make Portland an even more attractive place to live and do business.”

After graduating with honors from Middlebury College, where he earned his B.A. in Political Science, Lyons attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the International Law Review. Upon graduation from law school, Lyons moved back to Portland and joined the Rogue Wallet Company, where he serves as in-house counsel defending the company’s patents. Last month, Lyons accepted a Propel Entreverge award on behalf of the company for its “dedication to the people, place and prosperity of Maine.”

Lyons has long been involved in the progressive community. He organized protests against the invasion of Iraq while in college in Vermont, and at law school he worked to end the use of long-term solitary confinement in Illinois prisons. In Portland, he has been active in the campaigns to protect same day voter registration and to win the right of same sex couples to marry. Lyons currently serves as the Vice Chair of the League of Young Voters and is a member of several local groups including Propel, Buy Local, and the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust. His campaign is looking forward to announcing a kick off event in the coming weeks.